<p>Hello College Confidential! First time user, long time reader to this site. I finally created an account to this site, because I have a question about choosing a pre-college summer program for myself. I have applied to Columbia, Cornell, and Brown and have gotten into all of them. My issue now, is now I don't know which one I should attend this summer. I want to go somewhere I will get the best experience out of it. When I say that, I mean somewhere that I will have the best education experience and such. Could anyone offer assistance to me with this? If you had to choose one of those pre-college summer programs for me, which one would you choose? Thanks a bunch in advance!</p>
<p>I too need lots of help in choosing the best summer program for my S. He is currently a sophomore and is very interested in the sciences. Would like to take courses in something he wouldn’t experience in a HS class. Looking for something that is not too much $$ and not too late to apply to. Any suggestions??</p>
<p>To NJ Mom of 2:</p>
<p>I guess some prestigious (relatively, though) programs that gives up to full scholarship will do. For sciences, maybe MITES, SSP? I’m pretty sure you can find it in this forum as there are not that many.Most of the deadlines are late February or early March for those ones. I know all the college summer school has courses beyond HS level, but I don’t think these are cheap.</p>
<p>Is there anyone that could offer some assistance for me in choosing which one I should go to? Has anyone ever attended one of these programs? Any help is appreciated!</p>
<p>NJMom, before considering MITE or SSP, we need to know what kind of student your son is. If he is a top student at his school, then yes those programs will be really good for him. If not, then he does not have much of a chance to get into those programs.</p>
<p>bsketbll, I don’t think there is a huge difference between those programs. If you want to be in the city, then Cornell is out, if not, then Cornell is in. If NY city is too much, Brown might give you a better choice with some city feel. Generally, I keep hearing that these programs are attended by rich high school students that basically there to socialize. Do a search in Summer Programs board, I believe there were threads on Columbia, and Brown in the past with many previous attendee posted.</p>
<p>ttparent - My son is an excellent student - will probably be #1 in his class, although he hasn’t yet completed his soph year. He is taking AP Chem this year with a solid A, he is ranked #1 in that class although the majority of students are juniors or seniors. His math class is entitled “Unified Math IV” which consists of Algebra II and Pre -Calc and will be taking Calc AB next year. He is acing this course as well. He scored 201 on his soph PSATs with absolutely no prep. What do you think about his chances at the MITES and SSP program? Isn’t MITES only for minority students?</p>
<p>Then he is well advised to apply to such programs as SSP although if he is a sophomore then SSP might be difficult for him to get in yet. And SSP costs quite a bit if he is not qualified for FA. There are so many threads about science/math programs in this Summer Programs board. Look at the sticky thread above for starter. Yes, MITE is for minority so that is out if he is not URM.</p>
<p>Herein lies the problem with the summer programs that I have looked at from the CC threads.
- We are not a minority
- $9000+ for a summer program - wow, my D is starting college in September, can’t possibly do that one.
- S is going into his junior year, programs like Clarks are for rising seniors and up.
- Is a program like Brown (which is also very pricey) the real deal, or just for rich kids?
- Any more ideas for excellent science programs that are low or no cost?</p>
<p>Well, the programs I am thinking are not $9000+, I think most of them are around $2500-$4000+. If you are ok with that price, they are many good math and science programs within that range (SSP, HSHSP, YSP, PROMYS, HCSSIM, Ross, and numerous others). I assume that you are not qualified for FA, otherwise, all of these programs will consider giving scholarship to needy students.</p>
<p>If you look carefully in the thread or other similar ones there are a number of non-minority summer programs that are free or sometimes even pay you to attend but these programs are super competitive and very hard to get accepted. Off the top of my head:</p>
<ul>
<li>RSI</li>
<li>Cornell Nano Biotech</li>
<li>Clarks Scholar at Texas Tech</li>
<li>Jackson Lab in Maine</li>
<li>ISSYP physics program in Canada</li>
<li>CMU SAMS and AP/EA</li>
</ul>
<p>Maybe looking through some of these links would help too:</p>
<p>[Links</a> to Summer Academic Programs](<a href=“http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/linka4.htm]Links”>http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/linka4.htm)</p>
<p>ttparent - thank you so much for your help :)</p>
<p>I’ve had two HS juniors attend the [Miami</a> University Junior Scholars Program](<a href=“Summer Scholars Program | Miami University”>Summer Scholars Program | Miami University) and I highly recommend it. Program offers [Guaranteed</a> Admission](<a href=“http://www.muohio.edu/juniorscholars/guaranteed.htm]Guaranteed”>http://www.muohio.edu/juniorscholars/guaranteed.htm) to Miami.</p>
<p>Hi bsktbll5187
which programs you are interested in/applied. Did you need/get any financial aid. Where do you live…would you prefer campus experience</p>